Jamaica is first C'bean country to launch IMF-approved National Summary Data Page
Jamaica has become one of the first countries globally and the first in the Caribbean to launch an IMF-approved National Summary Data Page (NSDP).
The page was launched earlier today at the Bank of Jamaica auditorium in downtown Kingston, by Brian Wynter, governor of the Bank; Carol Coy, director general of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin); and Darlene Morrison, deputy financial secretary at the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.
The NSDP provides public access to a wide range of economic, financial and socio-demographic statistics.
The page contains regularly updated economic information from the BOJ, Statin and the Ministry of Finance, and can be accessed on the websites of those three bodies.
Macroeconomic and financial information available includes data on more than 20 different areas including: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Government Debt, stock market performance, foreign exchange rates, interest rates, population size and more.
The information is open to all, including journalists, international rating agencies, and the general public.
Jamaica joins 12 other countries offering this service — mainly African countries including Nigeria, Botswana and Zambia. The only other country outside of Africa to belong to the group, apart from Jamaica, is Honduras in Central America.
Trump drops US commitment to Mideast deal
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday halted Washington's quest for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying he would back a single state if it led to peace.
The new president warmly welcomed Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House and hailed the "unbreakable" bond between their countries.
And -- while he urged Netanyahu to "hold back" from building Jewish settlements for a "little bit" -- Trump broke with the international consensus insisting on a two-state future.
"So I'm looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like. I'm very happy with the one that both parties like. I can live with either one," he said.
"I thought for a while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two but, honestly, if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I'm happy with the one they like the best."
This change in the US stance was calculated to please Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition, and Trump's views on the shortcomings of the Palestinian position will delight them.
"I think the Palestinians have to get rid of some of that hate that they're taught from a very young age," he said, echoing Netanyahu's argument that the Palestinians are not ready for peace.
Netanyahu had warm words for the Israeli-US alliance, and hammered home his own prerequisites for peace.
"First, the Palestinians must recognize the Jewish state. They have to stop calling for Israel's destruction," he said.
"Second, in any peace agreement, Israel must retain the overriding security control over the entire area west of the Jordan River," he added.
This region contains the entire West Bank area that would represent the heart of any Palestinian state as conceived in all previous international agreements.
The previous US administration of Barack Obama had warned Israel that if it did not reach a two-state deal with the Palestinians, it would never reach an accommodation with the Arab world.
But Netanyahu insisted he was already developing closer security ties with his Sunni neighbors, who share Israel's concerns about Iranian subversion and "radical Islam."
And he urged Trump's administration to get on board.
"For the first time in the life of my country, Arab countries in the region do not see Israel as an enemy, but increasingly as an ally," he told Trump.
"I believe that under your leadership, this change in our region creates an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen security and advance peace."
But whatever the view in Cairo and in Riyadh, the change in the US position, which was revealed overnight by a White House official, triggered Palestinian despair and consternation in international capitals.
The second-ranking official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, denounced it as an attempt to "bury the two-state solution and eliminate the state of Palestine."
And he implicitly warned Israelis that any single state that emerged would not be a specifically Jewish nation.
"There's only one alternative," he told a news conference. "A single democratic state that guarantees the rights of all: Jews, Muslims and Christians."
The new US message deliberately echoed the long-standing Israeli position: No peace deal can be imposed from outside and the agenda for talks must reflect the reality on the ground.
Naftali Bennett, the right-wing leader of the hardline Jewish Home party and an opponent of any Palestinian state, cried victory.
"A new era. New ideas. No need for third Palestinian state beyond Jordan and Gaza. Big day for Israelis and reasonable Arabs. Congrats," he tweeted.
But Trump's decision flew in the face of an international consensus that any final status agreement must be based on a return to Israel's 1967 border -- albeit with land swaps.
Just five days before Trump's January 20 inauguration, Obama's outgoing US administration was among 70 countries to endorse this vision at a peace conference in Paris.
And just a month before that, Obama's ambassador to the United Nations allowed a Security Council motion that criticized Israeli settlement building to pass without the usual US veto.
Addressing a US-Israeli conference in December, the then secretary of state John Kerry called settlements a "barrier" to progress.
Under Trump, that vision appears dead, and Washington has aligned itself with Netanyahu's government and its supporters in the right-wing settler movement.
Speaking in Cairo after talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned that "everything must be done" to preserve the two-state solution.
France, which organized the January peace conference, was also unimpressed.
Its ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre, told reporters "our commitment to the two-state solution is stronger than ever."
Trump has tapped son-in-law Jared Kushner and lawyer Jason Greenblatt to lead peace efforts.
Source-AFP
Talks Sought on Stabilizing Afghanistan
A second round of international talks in Moscow on the stabilization of Afghanistan ended Wednesday with participating countries calling for Central Asian nations to be included in future discussions.
Representatives from Afghanistan were included in the talks for the first time, joining those from Russia, Pakistan, China, Iran and India.
"In the context of possible broadening of this negotiation format, an understanding was reached to develop regional efforts to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan by involving at the next stage the potential of other countries, primarily from Central Asia," Russia's Foreign Ministry said after the meeting, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.
Russia has said it wants stability and cooperation to fight extremist groups, including the Islamic State, which is gaining ground in Central Asia. But Afghan officials are not happy with Russia's direct talks with the Taliban, which U.S. officials say are aimed at undermining their efforts.
The United States was not invited to participate in the talks.
The exclusion of Afghanistan from the first round of discussions raised concerns among officials in Kabul as well as in the United States.
While the United Nations says the Taliban is responsible for five times as many deaths and injuries, Islamic State group attacks are on the rise in Afghanistan, with a tenfold growth in 2016.
U.S. officials say Russia's contacts with the Taliban, along with Iran's and Pakistan's, lend them legitimacy and support while undermining the Afghan government and NATO efforts to fight the extremists.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says thousands more U.S. troops are needed there to train Afghanistan's forces to better handle threats to security.
Source- VOA
3,000 Machinists Vote on Union at Boeing
Three thousand workers are scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to join a union at a Boeing aircraft factory in South Carolina. The factory builds some of Boeing's 787 commercial jetliners.
The company says the union is making promises it cannot keep, and argues that $800 in annual union dues would be a pay cut for workers.
The union says workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at other Boeing facilities get better pay and benefits, far outweighing the cost of dues.
This sometimes bitter campaign is being waged online, on television and in the workplace, with each side calling the other inaccurate or dishonest.
South Carolina has the lowest level of union representation in the nation, at 1.6 percent. State officials say businesses are more likely to bring jobs to an area where companies don't have to cope with unions.
If the union wins the right to represent workers at the plant, it will begin negotiating a contract seeking higher wages and more generous benefits.
Boeing is the largest aerospace company in the world, and the largest U.S. exporter with 148,000 employees.
NHIP is not the problem
Friends, as a former chairman of National Health Insurance Board and a current client of National Health, I feel it is my right to address the financial situation at NHIB. I know I have already made some comments under someone else page but this is my page and so I can elaborate.
First of all, when the National Health Insurance Bill was introduced to us in 2009, I was totally against the implementation because I like most people who opposed at that time suggested that the TCIG should make it mandatory that all persons have private medical insurance through their companies. However, when I became a member of the Board, only then did I realize the importance of this institution. BVI has recently implemented NHIB and the Bahamas is on the verge of doing the same. Both of these countries came to TCI on a fact finding mission and using our institution as a model.
Once you are covered by the National Health Insurance Board, there are no restrictions on your medical costs. NHIB covers all of your overseas medical costs. NHIB pays for your fight and provides you with subsistence during your time away. In addition NHIB covers your pre-existing conditions. Any pharmaceuticals over $25 is absorb by NHIB. Eg. If your pharmaceutical cost you $100, you pay $25 and NHIB pays $75. If you go to private doctor locally, NHIB pays $35 to that doctor/medical facility. One will not get half of these benefits from a private insurance company.
I am quite aware that there are issues among management and staff at NHIB which must be resolved in order for the organization to move forward. This article however is not to address this but to address the financial situation at NHIB. I will go on record and say that the financial situation at NHIB has nothing to do with the management personnel or style of NHIB. The situation we have on hand is that there is increase in the number of medical cases in TCI and therefore the Board is underfunded.
When management and the board of Directors presented the budget last year to TCIG, we knew the budget was not workable. However, as a statutory body, NHIB could not submit a budget showing a loss as it is against the guidelines of Govt. NHIB was asked to find ways to reduce its costs and they did put measurements in place to reduce costs including negotiating cost reductions with the main overseas providers. Unfortunately when it comes to the number of persons who are sick, it is beyond the control of NHIB. For the first half of 2016, there has been 18% increase in the number of patients referred abroad. Imagine if this trend continues, then the increase can be as much as 36% by the end of the year and I can assure you the budget does not reflect the cost to cover these unexpected increases in overseas treatment abroad cases. One also has to consider not only the medical costs, but also the subsistence cost, the travel costs and the pharmaceutical costs associated with these increases in the overseas treatment cases.
I know the first thing critics may say is that we should ban the NHIP plan. If we ban the NHIB plan, then it becomes more of burden for the TCIG and then TCIG will have to find other ways to increase its revenue (through a tax) should it decide to fully absorb all medical costs.
Before I go any further, I should note that NHIB is audited annually by PWC, a leading international company, and the audited financial statements are in the public domain. I should also add that NHIB has monthly board meetings and is attended by PS Finance and PS Health. If they are unable to attend, they send a representative. At every meeting, the financial performance of NHIB is discussed and furthermore NHIB like all statutory bodies must present quarterly report to the Ministry of Finance. For 2016 , I do not know the frequency or the format of the meetings as I was no longer on the Board. I can only speak to what happened when I was there in 2015.
Speaking about finance and since this information is in the public domain, I will share with you a synopsis of the finances for 2015. In 2015, NHIB collected more than $26.9 million in contribution income from their clients. In addition to the above the TCIG contributed a further $17.4 million to NHIB to cover overseas medical treatment, registered unemployed workers (up to 90 days I think) and indigents (persons who are sick really badly and not in a position to work). Now imagine if the TCIG had to fund the entire $44.3 million ($26.9 +17.4), do you really think we should ban NHIB.
On the cost side for 2015, there was a total of $39.6 million in health costs. This includes local medical costs, overseas medical costs, pharmaceutical costs, local and overseas travel and subsistence and reinsurance costs. Another $3.1 is on administrative costs which is minute compare to the overall scope of things.
I hope by now you have a better appreciation of the NHIB. We are now in 2016 whereby the number of cases has increased significantly but medical costs have also increased and so yes NHIB will have a financial crisis especially if the budget is not a true representation.
Here are my recommendations
Before I start with my recommendations, I believe most politicians are afraid to admit this. It is a sensitive issue and it has already happened. I am not a politician so I can say this. We should have never build two fully fledge hospitals. We should have one major hospital in TCI and all other islands have a medical facility along with family clinics in populated settlements.
1) Having one hospital would have eliminated some of the local medical costs. However, I know we cannot do anything about that but I wanted to list that anyway.
2) As a community, we must focus on preventative healthcare. At the moment, all of our funds are being used to treat diseases. We need to institute preventative healthcare platforms in our schools, our churches and homes. Perhaps NBIB can partner with someone and take this as project. There are far too many cases of sicknesses and diseases taking place in our small country. We need to educate our public on healthcare: eating and living healthy. If we do not address this, we will continue to spend more money than we budgeted for medical care. It is very challenging to budget for medical costs. The key for cutting medical costs is the prevention of diseases and sicknesses. Unfortunately, some of us do not get routine medical care or check up and we find ourselves in late stages of the diseases and then we end up blaming the hospitals.
3) Everyone who lives and works here should contribute to the plan and be honest in their contribution. When one of our family members get sick, we get upset with the plan when sometimes we do not even contribute to the plan. However, because we are a small island and we know everybody, we called the minister or the premier for help. Is it fair to those who are paying?
4) Everyone should be treated equally. Currently the plan refers persons to DR, Jamaica, Bahamas and sometime Puerto Rico for overseas treatment. However, there are some who refuse to go to these places and want to go the USA or they want to choose where they want to go. Don’t you know that some of those same doctors you deal with in the USA are from Jamaica, Bahamas etc
5) NHIB along with the TCIG need to review the benefits including the coverage of the pharmaceutical costs. Perhaps the TCIG really needs to rethink about the establishment of their own pharmacy. Something has to be done because some pharmaceutical costs can be as high as $7000 for one patient.
6) For those persons that have private insurance, perhaps the insurance can cover the 80% and NHIB can cover the remaining 20%. Of course the issue will be the referral country as NHIB does not send patients to USA.
7) Another option is to increase the current rate from 6%. A study will have to be done to determine the best viable rate.
8) Given that we have two modern hospitals in Turks and Caicos, we need to find ways and means to treat patients locally rather than sending abroad. It will cost us but I believe it will still be cheaper to do it locally. I know efforts have been made already as some doctors and consultants visit TCI often at the hospitals and are able to administer some of the procedures locally.
Before I close, it is important that I explain the difference between NHIB and IHC as there seems to be a lot of confusion.
In my opinion the National Health Insurance Board serves three primary purposes, 1) the registration of individuals so that they can access medical care locally through the main local provider and the selected overseas providers, 2) the collection and payment of funds. NHIB collects funds from employers for their employees and then use those funds to pay for medical costs locally and overseas and 3) the management of overseas treatment abroad.
Interhealth Canada on the other hand is the local provider of medical services to the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands. NHIB and IHC are two separate institutions and are managed separately.
I wish to stress that NHIB is not the problem, the cost of providing health care locally and overseas is the problem. The challenge for the new Government of TCI, is how much are they willing to fund the cost locally and overseas and are they willing to reduce the benefits offered to patients.
NHIB is helping to pay for the local and overseas medical costs and so NHIB is not the problem. The only new cost that has occurred as result of the introduction of NHIB is the administrative cost that I have already mentioned above.
Politicians should not interfere in the running of statutory bodies. Even Board members should not be responsible for the day to day activity of a board. The role of the politician with respect to the Board should be to implement policies and providing funding.
I have provided you with facts, not hearsay.
Drex Seymour
UNITED AIRLINES INTRODUCES NEW ROUTE TO PROVIDENCIALES FROM WASHINGTON D.C.
United Airlines will introduce a nonstop flight on Saturdays from Washington D.C. to Providenciales, starting December 17th, 2016. Originating via the Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), the seasonal flight is expected to be offered until April 29th, 2017.
The Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is one of the three major airports in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area, serving more than 21 million passengers a year. The new service now totals four United gateways to the Turks and Caicos, providing easy access for potential visitors and adding further convenience with more space, more comfort and more service.
Anticipating the new service, the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board recently partnered with United Airlines on a familiarization trip to the destination, “In an effort to ensure maximum exposure for the destination, we invited United to provide us with 20 of their top producing travel agents to experience the Turks and Caicos with hopes that the selected agents would better sell the destination and our many attributes to their clients,” said Pamela Ewing, Regional Marketing Manager.
Ewing continued, “The agents experienced not only Providenciales, but also North and Middle Caicos and our many wonderful natural and historical sites. The agents had a wonderful time and are better equipped to promote the Turks and Caicos.”
United Airlines also commenced their seasonal nonstop flight from Chicago (ORD) to Providenciales, as of mid November. United Airlines currently offers nonstop flights from Newark (EWR) and Houston (IAH) to Providenciales as well.
VW prepares a blitz of trucks and EVs in North America
Volkswagen AG is going on the offensive in North America, challenging the likes of General Motors and Ford Motor Co. with a wave of new light trucks and battery-powered cars.
VW’s namesake marque will expand its range of SUVs, crossovers and sedans and start making electric autos in North America in 2021 in a bid to “evolve from a niche supplier” into a successful mainstream carmaker in the region, the company said today.
“We will be significantly stepping up our activities in the U.S.A.,” VW brand chief Herbert Diess said. “Our goals are high and our strategy is very ambitious.”
Even before the diesel scandal, Volkswagen struggled to extend its dominance in Europe and China to the U.S., misreading American tastes for large, affordable cars. VW’s rollout of SUVs that appeal to American consumers came late, and the company was slow to follow up a bigger, cheaper version of the Passat sedan with other models. Now, VW plans to increase its global SUV/crossover lineup to 19 by 2020 from two currently and become profitable in North and South America by then.
The North American push is part of a sweeping overhaul to improve profitability at VW, one of the auto industry’s least efficient brands. Under the new strategy, the German carmaker’s biggest unit plans to more than triple its profit margin to 6 percent and increase sales of electric cars to 1 million vehicles per year by 2025. Efforts to boost the margin are critical as Volkswagen faces at least 18.2 billion euros of fines and repairs in the wake of the emissions crisis.
To help cover those damages and the cost of developing battery-powered and self-driving technologies, VW reached a landmark agreement with workers last week, to cut as many as 30,000 jobs worldwide and slash 3.7 billion euros of expenses. The electric-car transition will be funded in part by eliminating more than 2.5 billion euros of costs by scrapping underperforming conventional models, while the annual investment budget will remain stable at about 4.5 billion euros, the company said.
Volkswagen shares were little changed at 120.40 euros at 1:11 p.m. in Frankfurt trading, bringing the loss since the emissions cheating was revealed in September of last year to about 25 percent.
VW’s main marque, which accounts for nearly half of the group’s sales, was already struggling with bloated production costs and convoluted management before the diesel scandal came to light. Burdened by its free-spending past, productivity at VW is 30 percent below its peers and the carmaker spent 60 percent more per vehicle than Toyota Motor Corp. over the past three years, Exane BNP Paribas estimates.
VW currently assembles the Jetta sedan, the Golf hatchback and the Beetle in a factory in Puebla, Mexico. Its only factory in the U.S. is in Chattanooga. Globally, Volkswagen plans to sell as many as 3 million electric vehicles per year across all its divisions.
“Over the next few years, Volkswagen will change radically. Very few things will stay as they are,” Diess said. “The electric car will become the strategic core of the VW brand.”
Kanye West taken to LA hospital following disturbance call
Kanye West has been taken to hospital following an emergency services call, media reports say.
A police spokesperson told the BBC they had received a "disturbance call" on Monday afternoon, but did not name the singer.
The disturbance was later deemed a medical incident, he said, and the fire department responded.
A spokesman for the LA Fire Department said an unnamed man had been taken to hospital for "further assessment".
"At 13:20 Pacific Time, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to an unspecified medical aid request," a spokesperson for the service said.
"An adult male described as medically stable was taken to an area hospital for further assessment."
West's wife Kim Kardashian West was photographed getting off a private jet at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles a few hours after he was taken to hospital.
Further details of the incident naming West varied in conflicting reports from multiple news sources.
NBC News said officers had been responding to a "medical welfare call" and the decision to hospitalise West was for his own health and safety, citing "multiple authorities familiar with the case".
Gossip website TMZ said that West was taken to hospital for "psychiatric evaluation" and had been seeking treatment for "severe sleep deprivation".
The Los Angeles Times reported that there had been a 911 call from the address, citing a fire department source.
Neither West nor his representatives have made an official statement about the incident.
Source-BBC
Malware is making ATMs 'spit cash'
A Russian cybersecurity firm has issued a warning about a spate of remotely coordinated attacks on cash machines.
Hacks of banks' centralised systems had made groups of machines issue cash simultaneously, a process known as "touchless jackpotting", said Group IB.
The machines had not been physically tampered with, it said, but "money mules" had waited to grab the cash.
Affected countries are said to include Armenia, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and the UK.
But the company declined to name any specific banks.
Dmitriy Volkov from Group IB told the BBC a successful attack could net its perpetrators up to $400,000 (£320,000) at a time.
"We have seen such attacks in Russia since 2013," he said.
"The threat is critical. Attackers get access to an internal bank's network and critical information systems. That allows them to rob the bank."
Two cash machine manufacturers, Diebold Nixdorf and NCR Corp, told Reuters they were aware of the threat.
"They are taking this to the next level in being able to attack a large number of machines at once," said senior director Nicholas Billett, from Diebold Nixdorf.
"They know they will be caught fairly quickly, so they stage it in such a way that they can get cash from as many ATMs as they can before they get shut down."
A recent report by Europol warned of the rise of cash-machine-related malware, although it said "skimming" - using hardware to steal card information at the machine itself - was still more common.
"The new method is being done by somehow gaining access to the banks' central systems and infecting whole communities of ATMs simultaneously, hence multiplying the amount of money that can be stolen in a short time," said Surrey University's cybersecurity expert Prof Alan Woodward.
Because criminals were collecting the cash in person, it made the crime more difficult to trace, he added.
"The classic way of solving online financial crime is to 'follow the money' - but when you can no longer do this, it is very hard to find out who is behind it, even though the evidence suggests it is a very limited number of groups that have started perpetrating this type of crime."
Source-
French heir finds $3.7m gold hoard underneath furniture in house
A Frenchman who inherited a large house from a relative has found an astonishing 100kg (220lb) haul of gold hidden under the furniture.
The unnamed heir discovered the glittering hoard in a variety of inventive locations, including under piles of linen and in the bathroom.
"There were 5,000 gold pieces, two bars of 12kg and 37 ingots of 1kg," auctioneer Nicolas Fierfort told AFP.
The treasure is worth an estimated €3.5m ($3.7m; £3m).
Mr Fierfort said he had visited the house in Evreux, Normandy, to value furniture the new owner was selling.
He said he totally overlooked the gold, which was "extremely well hidden".
The coins and gold bars only came to light when the house's new owner started moving things around.
First, he found a tin box of coins screwed to the underside of some furniture.
Then came more, carefully concealed in a box meant for a bottle of whisky.
Finally, the man unearthed a staggering pile of gold bars and ingots.
"At that point he called his solicitor to make an inventory," Mr Fierfort said.
According to certificates found in the deceased's estate, the gold was legally purchased in the 1950s and 1960s.
It has already been sold on to buyers in France and overseas.
However, local newspaper La Depeche, which first reported the story, said the golden hello may come with a sting.
The finder will be liable for 45% inheritance tax and, if the original owner did not declare his or her assets, a further three years of back taxes.
Source-BBC